Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests against alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in Tehran and other major cities in Iran and around the world starting after the disputed presidential election on 2009 June 12 and continued even after the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as President of Iran on 5 August 2009. This is a timeline of the events which occurred during those protests.
2009
June
June 13–15
In what had become the worst civil unrest in Iran in over a decade, clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results from early Saturday morning onward. Protests were initially mostly peaceful but became increasingly violent. Demonstrators chanted phrases such as "Down with the dictator", "Death to the dictator", and "Give us our votes back". Mousavi urged for calm and asked that his supporters refrain from acts of violence.
Anonymous sources said that the police stormed the headquarters of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and arrested a number of people.
Two hundred people protested outside Iran's embassy in London. Protests led by Iranian-Americans were also held outside the Iranian representative office in New York City.
On Sunday, protests grew considerably in scope and violence, leading Al Jazeera English to describe the situation as the "biggest unrest since the 1979 revolution". It also reported that protests seemed spontaneous without any formal organization. Buses and trash cans were burned, and parked cars blocked streets and highways in Tehran and routes leading into the city. Protesters attacked shops, government offices, police stations, police vehicles, gas stations and banks. Barricades were installed around all government ministries, embassies (there were reports of shootings outside the Russian Embassy, which supported the election results), Mehrabad and Imam Khomeini International Airport, where there were scenes of large clashes with riot police. Large protests, which escalated into riots, broke out at Tehran University, Amirkabir University, and Shahid Beheshti University. Other protests occurred in Ahwaz, Shiraz, Gorgan, Tabriz, Rasht, Babol, Mashhad, Isfahan, Zahedan, Qazvin, Sari, Karaj, Tabriz, Shahsavar, Orumieh, Bandar Abbas, Arak, and Birjend. In Gorgan, protestors broke into a Basij base and killed several IRGC officials, causing mass purges and attacks in the city. Since riot police are largely limited to Tehran, the IRGC and the Basij were dispatched to quell protests in other cities.
Reporters from the Italian state-owned television broadcaster RAI stated that one of its interpreters was beaten with clubs by riot police and the officers then confiscated the cameraman's tapes. Also several BBC cameramen were beaten and arrested by IRGC officials and had their tapes confiscated.
On the night between the June 14 and 15, 15 students were severely injured by beating or killed when police and basij attacked Tehran University dormitories. 120 faculty members of Sharif University of Technology resigned in protest of the alleged electoral fraud and began a protest against Ahmadinejad's re-election as President.Mass resignations at Sharif University, June 14, 2009. huffingtonpost.com
Protests were organized outside the United Nations in New York City; in front of the Iranian embassies in Paris, Berlin, London, and Iranian consulate in Sydney; and in a public square in Toronto. Protests also occurred in Kuala Lumpur,Cops break up Iranian protest , New Straits Times, June 16, 2009 Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Dubai.Dubai Iranians protest Ahmadinejad's 'rigged' win, AFP, June 15, 2009 Other protests had been organized in front of the Iranian embassies in Turkey, Paris, Berlin, London, Milan, Rome, Vienna, and The Hague. In addition, a large counter-demonstration celebrating the reelection of Ahmadinejad took place in central Tehran.
On June 15, Mousavi made his first post-election appearance, before supporters numbered at two million or more, at a rally in Tehran's Freedom Square, despite being warned by state officials that any such rally would be illegal. Shots were fired from a compound used by Basij pro-government militia, apparently killing seven demonstrators, after the crowd allegedly attacked the militia's compound. Iranian authorities arrested one man over the shooting. Besides this incident, the protest appeared peaceful. Several rallies of smaller scale took place in other Iranian cities.
Solidarity protests took place in Montreal at Place des Arts; in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where police fired tear gas to break up a protest at the city's United Nations building; in Chicago; and in Copenhagen.
June 16
Thousands of people massed the streets of Tehran again. A British journalist reported seeing special police keeping Basijs and demonstrators separated. Over 120 Tehran University professors who had resigned in protest of violence against students joined the protests after security forces violently raided university dormitories.
The Guardian Council announced that it was prepared to order a partial recount, and ruled out an annulment of the vote. The concession was rejected by the main opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, demanding that a new election be held.
June 17
The Iranian national football team played against South Korea's team in Seoul on Wednesday, with some members of the Iranian team wearing green armbands in support of Mousavi.
Another demonstration was held in Tehran centering on the 7 Tir Square. Estimates of the number of participants ranged between 70,000 and 500,000.
June 18
Candle-bearing protesters massed in central Tehran on Thursday near Toopkhaneh square, following a call by Mousavi to commemorate those who were killed on Monday's protests. Varying reports placed the crowd size between "tens of thousands" and "more than 100,000." A second, simultaneous protest with several hundred participants took place near the UN headquarters, while a counter rally was held by hard line students protesting former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's role in the pro-Mousavi protests.
The Guardian Council invited the three major challengers to meet to discuss their grievances.
June 19
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei spoke about the previous protests during his scheduled television appearance.Masses mourn protesters in Iran. BBC News Online. June 18, 2009 He argued that "media belonging to Zionists, evil media," were trying to divide the state and Western powers were casting doubts on the election. He announced that he would not to be willing to give in to "illegal pressures" to change the results, and said that the opposition leaders would be "responsible for bloodshed and chaos" if they did not stop the demonstrations.
Hours after Khamenei's speech, defeated candidate Mehdi Karoubi called for election results to be cancelled."
Mousavi spokesman Mohsen Makhmalbaf said "Mousavi's headquarters was wrecked by plainclothes police officers" with many staffers arrested, and Mousavi himself ordered by the Revolutionary Guard to stay silent. Makhmalbaf said his job was "to urge people to take to the streets because Mousavi could not do so directly".
Both houses of the US Congress condemned violence against demonstrators by the Iranian government.Stephen Collinson, , AFP 20-06-2009
An underground newspaper entitled خيابان, or "The Street," also printed an issue dated June 19.
June 20
State-run television reported that at least 10 were killed and 100 injured on Saturday, as thousands of protesters swept into the streets of Tehran, in open defiance of warnings issued Friday by Iran's Supreme Leader and Security Council. State media said 457 people had been detained over Saturday's violence. . A young Iranian woman, identified as Neda Soltan, was shot by the Basij and died in front of cameras on Kargar Avenue in Tehran. Highly graphic amateur videos of the killing rapidly spread virally across the internet after being posted to Facebook and YouTube. On 20 June – a day after Khamenei had warned of a brutal reaction if unrest continued – the Tehran ambulance service's internal radio system confirmed that at least 47 people had died, many from gunshot wounds. Iranians' green revolution refuses to wither and die
On Saturday night, the Iranian state-run news agency IRINN said an attacker had been killed earlier in the day outside Tehran at the entrance to the mausoleum that holds the body of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The agency said the man "carrying the bomb" was killed, and there were no other casualties. Press TV was reporting that the bomber was the sole fatality and that three other people were wounded at the shrine to Khomeini.Chaos prevails as protesters, police clash in Iranian capital, CNN 21-06-2009 These claims have not been confirmed.
In a statement posted on the website of his Kalemeh newspaper, Mousavi repeated his demand for the elections results to be annulled, and charged that the fraud could destroy the country's republicanism.Police crack down on Iran protests, Al Jazeera 21-06-2009 An ally of Mousavi reported that the opposition leader had told his supporters that he was ready for martyrdom and had called for a general strike. Speaker of the Parliament (Majlis) Ali Larijani declared that a significant number of people believed the official election results to be fraudulent.
State television quoted a council spokesman as saying that the Guardian Council had expressed its readiness to "randomly" recount up to 10 per cent of the ballots.
Worldwide solidarity protests took place in New York City, Los Angeles, at the gates of the White House,Thousands rally to support reform demos in Iran, AFP 20-06-2009 outside of Paris and in Brussels.Pro-Iran protests held in US cities, AFP 20-06-2009 US-based human rights group Human Rights Watch and US President Barack Obama both issued statements urging the Iranian government to end violence against protesters.Western rights group calls on Iran to end crackdown, Reuters 20-06-2009
June 21
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about reports of voting irregularities. Mottaki charged France with taking "treacherous and unjust approaches," and accused Britain of flying intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a "very transparent competition." British Foreign Secretary David Miliband categorically denied the charge against his country, adding: "This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world."In Tehran, an eerie calm as death toll jumps to 19, Associated Press (reprinted in Yahoo! News 21-06-2009)
An Iranian official at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance announced the expulsion of BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne but said the BBC office in Tehran would remain open. The semi-official Fars News Agency, which said Leyne must leave within 24 hours, explained that he was accused of "dispatching fabricated news and reports" and "ignoring neutrality in news," as well as "supporting rioters and trampling the Iranian nation's rights."Hashem Kalantari and Fredrik Dahl, Iran expels BBC correspondent: official, Reuters 21-06-2009 Furthermore, Iranian officials detained Iranian-born, Canadian citizen and Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari.Newsweek Reporter Detained. Newsweek. Retrieved 21 June 2009. Campaign group Reporters Without Borders says 23 local journalists and bloggers have been arrested over the past week.